Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or Fate Stay Night, any resemblance to any other Fairy Tail or Fate Stay Night fan fiction is coincidental and plagiarism is not intended. No flames please, constructive criticism only.
[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]
"Phantom Lord is to be disbanded and Jose to be stripped of his title as one of the Wizard Saints, pretty much what I expected." Makarov said sitting out the magic council's Fiore branch with Yajima. "But then Fairy Tail was found innocent which came as a bit of a surprise to me."
"I spoke in defence of your character Maki, I hope you appreciate that." Yajima said to the other man.
"You know that I'm grateful for the support Yaj." Makarov said "Why don't you stop by the guild once it's been repaired and I'll treat you to some ramen."
"I could go for a Fairy ramen with twelve slices of roasted pork." Yajima told him.
"That's kinda pushing it don't you think?"
"Do you know what the penalty is for violating the fourth clause of your guild charter?" Yajima asked
"Alright I get the point you can have twenty slices better yet make it thirty!" Makarov yelled annoyed at Yajima's extortion.
"Twelve pork slices will be fine." Yajima informed him smugly before getting serious. "Say Maki, what do you think?"
"About what?"
"About all these strange wizards popping up with their Noble Phantasms, are they called?" Yajima asked "First there was Gildarts, then Erza, Mystogan, Lucy Heartfillia, God Serena and his spear which never misses the heart, Minerva Orland and her…..singing and a person from Cait Shelter are the ones we know of. They have memories of past lives and power abilities that dwarf other wizards in this world."
"We live in an interesting era; the winds of change are blowing strong." Makarov sighed looking up at the clouds.
"There are some on the council who suspect that these people are the reason Alvarez invaded when it did." Yajima stated.
"Yeah I heard, the council wasn't expecting the invasion to happen until X781 but they invaded in early X777 instead and caught the council with its pants down." Makarov chuckled. "The story is that the Council used Etherion to wipe out the invaders right?"
"That is the official story, but I'm sure you know that it's a lie that the Council of the time used to save face." Yajima told him.
"Wouldn't that information be classified then?" Makarov asked "You could get into trouble for sharing this with me."
"I'm close to retiring myself anyway, besides its relevant to this discussion." Yajima waved him off "So you heard that at the same year just after the invasion Warrod retired from the Wizards Saints yes?"
"Yeah I heard, he's always was a strange one." Makarov said.
"Well during the invasion in reality the entire invasion force including one of the Spriggan Twelve who was present were wiped out by one person, and their Noble Phantasm." Yajima said. "That person was made a Wizard Saint but the other three Gods of Ishgar agreed with the person to keep their identity a secret. So they cut a deal with the council, fire Etherion and take credit for destroying the army and save face, in return they make the person a Wizard Saint without ever knowing their identity. Since then attempts have been made by Council's since and even to this day to discover the mysterious Saints identity but all have failed, only the three Gods of Ishgar plus Warrod know and they aren't going to share anytime soon, they just say 'you'll know their identity when the time is right.'"
"I bet that's gotten Michello and Org's panties in a knot."
"Indeed, the only clue the Council believes they have is a report from a Rune Knight who was a recruit at the time." Yajima explained "As he approached the beach where the invasion was happening Etherion struck and as it did the recruit shielded his eyes, but as he did so he swears under oath and even truth detection magic that he saw someone with long hair flying away from the blast on a Pegasus."
"Get outta here." Makarov said with disbelief.
"It's true, and there have been sightings of a Pegasus flying through the skies in years since, the Council has tried tracking it but have never been able too, it's frustrating because they think that if they find the Pegasus rider they'll find the final Wizard Saint."
"Hang on, you've been saying this like you don't believe so."
"It seems too easy if you ask me." Yajima said "Why would the Four Gods of Ishgar go to these lengths to conceal the identity of Warrods replacement and just let a Rune Knight's testimony slip through. Why wouldn't they erase his memories beforehand? Maybe I'm just overthinking it but it seems too simple to me."
"Maybe…." Makarov drifted off into thought.
"Listen on another subject, I think it's time for you to reign it in. We're just not as young as we used to be you know." Yajima sighed wistfully. "Don't tell me that you've forgotten."
"About what?"
"What happened to our old pal."
"Who Rob? Course not."
"Those were the good old days, the team of you, me, Rob and Porlyusica. We were all just a bunch of reckless fools but we lived every day to the fullest."
"We sure did."
"Fairy Tail was a great place to be until Rob left us." Yajima reminisced. "With that shield of his no one ever scratched him."
"What did he call it again? Lord Camelot I think was its name." Makarov said remembering the name of the shield. "One day he went charging off, saying that he had to rescue his king, before we could even ask what he meant he was already gone and nobody was ever able to find him. To this day we still don't know where the Tower is, Erza refuses to speak about it."
"I've never mentioned him to the council, I never saw the point, no reason to reopen old wounds after all."
"Erza managed to talk about him a couple times, sharing what he was like in his later years." Makarov told Yajima. "But I think his death wounded her deeply, when she stumbled to Fairy Tail, she was still in tears, she babbled a lot and something about throwing away a useless scabbard."
"I brought this up because there's been increasing talk that Fairy Tail's antics have been getting out of hand lately." Yajima said "Michello and Org have been making noise in the Council about wanting to disband the guild, frankly if it weren't for Lady Kin announcing her support for Fairy Tail then they might have gotten traction. That woman has a lot of political weight to throw around, but still the stress is going to get to you, you won't do anyone any good if you're dead. Seriously, you've got to step down soon, you're not a kid anymore."
Makarov looked at Yajima and sighed wistfully,
[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]
A couple of weeks had passed since the guild war between Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail. It had been announced earlier to the public that Phantom Lord was to disband immediately which honestly came as no surprise to the former members of Phantom themselves.
Totomaru and Aria both of whom were recovering from their wounds (Although Aria's were more serious hence why he was still covered in bandages) had found themselves summoned to an immense palace isolated from towns and villages. It was larger and grander than even the palace of the king of Fiore in Crocus.
"You must be Totomaru and Aria from Phantom Lord am I right?" a man asked them holding a silver platter which with a cover. "I'm Kageyama, I serve Lady Kin."
"Lady Kin, so it's true the mysterious wealthy woman did summon us." Aria said with awe.
"I gotta ask…. what's with the monkey suit?" Totomaru asked pointing at the literal monkey costume Kageyama was dressed in.
"The Lady though it would be funny if I greeted you dressed like this." Kageyama replied sweatdropping at having the embarrassing costume pointed out.
"But isn't this humiliating?" Totomaru asked.
"Of course it is, but what I get in return for serving Lady Kin, is more than enough for me to endure a little humiliation like this." Kageyama replied with a sigh before expanding a shadow beneath their feet. "Come on, the Lady doesn't like to be kept waiting."
Before the two could even cry out they were swallowed up by the shadow and transported along with Kageyama.
[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]
The shadow released the Wizards, they found themselves in an immense throne room with a beautifully decorated wall with carvings, mosaics and tapestries on it while the other lead directly to an outside view with very nice looking columns.
Directly at the back of the room, elevated by several stairs, was a large golden throne. Upon it sat a woman in a flowing white dress whose face was obscured by the sun.
"My Lady, the two wizards from Phantom Lord who wished to see are here." Kageyama stated bowing at the woman on the throne.
"Is this really her, Lady Kin? The wealthiest and one of the most powerful people on the continent?" Totomaru asked.
"No, not in person." Aria stated examining the woman through his blindfold. "She is suing thought projection, but something is strange about it."
"What do you mean?"
"The Thought projections magical energy signature is no different from the Ethernano in the air around us." Aria said "She is a master at concealing herself, discerning her identity is most likely impossible."
"I have a proposal for the two of you." Lady Kin stated imperiously "I find myself in need of Wizards, agree to enter into a contract with me and serve only me for the rest of your days."
"The rest of our lives?" Totomaru stammered "But what would we get out this?"
Kageyama stepped before the two and removed the cover from the silver platter. The two wizards gasped at what they saw. A pair of tomes, both rather old but extremely rare, less five existed of these tomes. One was of air magic and the other of fire.
"If you agree to serve and obey me, then you will never want for anything ever again." Lady Kin told them. "Books and tomes as rare as this are easy for me to acquire, with the techniques of the magic tomes I have gathered you will become strong, you may do whatever you wish in your spare tine but I expect you not to go rusty, so keep doing jobs to stay in shape, I have no use for fools who can't fight because they became lazy."
Kageyama covered up the books again and took a step aside.
"What if we decline? Hypothetically of course." Aria asked.
"Well then, hypothetically I'd Kageyama would transport the two of you out of here and into a ravine somewhere and you never see this opportunity again." Lady Kin said with visible smile. "If you accept hold out your right hands towards me to receive my mark."
Aria and Totomaru looked at each other, without a second's hesitation they both held out their right hands. A small smile crossed Lady Kin's face as a burning sensation suddenly blossomed in the offered hands. Both wizards fell to their knees grasping the hands which felt like a hot knife was carving into them.
Finally, the pain subsided and both wizards opened their eyes to see a red mark carved into the back of their hands in the shape of a crown.
"Excellent, you have chosen wisely and shall be rewarded for it." Lady Kin stated "You have both taken the first step to the opportunity of a lifetime. Kageyama show them to the library, I have other matters to attend to."
With that Lady Kin's thought projection vanished leaving the three wizards alone.
[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]
A few days later at the bar which was the first thing standing while the rest of the guild hall was still under construction Mira was examining a six-year-old little girl with blond hair and crimson coloured eyes who was sitting on a barstool. She was wearing a simple blue sundress, with sneakers.
"Hey Lucy, I was wondering why are you still young like that?" Mirajane asked "Shouldn't the potion have worn off by now?"
"Well, to be honest I could change back whenever I want, but I feel more carefree like this." Lucy replied with a smile "I need this after having to deal with my idiot of a father." Lucy thought back to how she had returned to his estate dealt with him by clocking him on the head and demanding to know what he wanted.
Apparently the fuss was that he needed her help dealing with financial issue's, so she'd hired him an assistant who would keep him from making bad deals squandering the wealth of the family he'd accumulated. She did ask him why he went to the trouble of hiring a magic guild to retrieve her when he could have just sent a message. Apparently his response was he wanted them to be an honour guard for her as she came back thinking she'd like it. The sad thing was he wasn't lying and really believed it, so after finding an assistant for him she'd visited her mother's grave and left.
Things seemed to calm down after that, although a few days ago Erza was having trouble motivating the others to work faster in rebuilding the guild hall, which was to have three floors instead of two.
[Flashback]
"Come on everyone we need to move faster or well never have the first floor completed on schedule." Erza barked out at the others who had quite quickly lost their motivation.
"Gives us a break Erza." Wakaba complained.
"Yeah we've been working like this for days." Macao agreed. "We barely have any money to pay for food and stuff."
"Yeah so lay off." Alzack griped.
Erza growled with annoyance, yet it seemed not even fear of her could get them going.
"Dear me, Erza my dear you really do know nothing about motivating people." Lucy teased from her seat on a pile of lumber.
"I suppose you could do better then?" Erza yelled with annoyance.
"Naturally." Lucy smirked before standing up and doing an acrobatic leap causing her to land at the top of the skeleton for the new guild hall. "Attention everyone, listen to me."
She had everyone's attention, they were wary but listening.
"Four score and three seconds ago I had a dream."
"This should be good." Gray commented.
"A dream of a grand guild hall, even better than before. So help us by working harder and I shall add a fourth floor, and PURCHASE ENOUGH TOP QUALITY JACUZZI'S FOR EVERYBODY!"
"They'll never go for…" Erza cut off as the whole guild suddenly began to cheering loud enough to slight case the skeleton and foundations to tremble. "What!? She not only extended how long they had to work but got them to work faster and harder by offering Jacuzzi's?!"
Seeing everyone work harder and faster Erza felt a little jealous at being outdone and decided a revenge prank was in order. She withdrew a small, translucent bottle with a lustrous, beautifully-ornamented design made of an unknown material resembling china or crystal, inside it was a clear liquid.
This was the potion of youth which she had borrowed from Lucy's mansion a little while back out of curiosity. To be fair, Lucy had left it lying out with a label saying potion of youth. After pouring some of the potion into a drink Erza had a pretty easy time getting Lucy to drink it.
"Oh Lucy, would care to try this drink I made?" Erza asked with the sweetest tone she could muster.
Normally you'd think Lucy would be suspicious but, she knew who Erza was in her past life and thusly couldn't help being blinded by infatuation.
"But of course." Lucy replied taking the drink from her and chugging it down with a smile.
All of a sudden a cloud of smoke erupted around Lucy, when it cleared, in her place was a much younger looking version of her she looked to be about six years of age.
"Hey, you tricked me, no fair." Lucy whined stomping her foot childishly.
"Wow, doesn't just look like a kid she acts like one too." Alzack said sweatdropping.
"Didn't expect Erza of all people to pull a dirty trick like that." Bisca agreed.
"There that should keep you out of the way." Erza said with a victorious smirk as the potion bottle dissolved into golden sparkles and returned to the Gate of Babylon.
"You're a jerk, you…you, meanie face!" Lucy sniffed glaring angrily Erza with tears in the corners of her eyes.
"Erza!" Mirajane suddenly interrupted with a scolding tone, she promptly lifted Lucy up and held her close with the girls face looking over her shoulder. "Even if you didn't like the way she was acting she's just a child right now, you can't be mean to children."
"But she's not even really a child it's just a potion." Erza protested.
"Even so, right now she's a child, no more strawberry shortcake for you today." Mira said turning around and taking Lucy with her to bar.
Erza's jaw went slack as she heard Mira's punishment, she whimpered slightly at the thought of being deprived of her favourite treat, she looked up and thought about apologising to Lucy.
However, upon looking she was convinced that the little girl still retained her adult knowledge, she saw Lucy sticking her tongue out at the her, while that wouldn't confirm anything the fact that Lucy was using her free hand which was out of Mira's sight to make a rude gesture at Erza definitely confirmed it.
"Mira can't you see the little brat is playing you?!" Erza cried as the other members of Fairy Tail chose to remain silent lest Mira punish them as well.
"Erza, no more cake tomorrow either!" Mira declared causing Erza to sink deeper into despair, which quickly turned into anger upon seeing Lucy silently snickering at her.
[Flashback end]
[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]
After a week passed, several days ago Mira had made the announcement of the guild being able to take jobs again. Lucy and the rest of Team Natsu had gone on a job to Lupinus to wipe out a cult but the other three had wound up destroying half the town in the process of completing the job.
As such due to the reward being cut several to pay for the damages the team had taken another job to beat up a bunch of bandits near Hosenka village, a spa town. A decent soak in the spa's later Lucy decided to leave the three morons alone to their pillow fight.
While walking alone with Plue and Happy they'd been jumped by a pair of wizards, however before Lucy could unleash on them Loke had shown up and knocked to two out. Apparently they were rogue wizards who ambushed women (and apparently children now if the attack on her was any idea) who walked alone in the town.
After turning the two in Lucy persuaded Loke to go with her to the world renowned restaurant Super Express.
"I already know you're the Celestial Spirit Leo the Lion." Lucy stated after a moment of silence which had settled in after finishing her meal, this caused Loke to gasp in surprise. "I have a Noble Phantasm that gives me super high level clairvoyance, I used it to get some basic information on you, it told me you were a Celestial Spirit and that you're Leo the Lion, I turned it off after learning that. You can relax, I have no intention of trying to force you to be my spirit, whatever your problem is with Celestial Wizards that bit is safe, I don't like using Sha Nagba Imuru too often, it ruins the surprise of everything." Lucy jumped off of her stool and sighed joyfully after having eaten the noodles that the large fore headed chef made. "Well, I'll see ya around."
"Wait" Loke grabbed her arm stopping her in her tracks.
"What is it?" Loke the abruptly grabbed Lucy into a hug.
"The truth is…..I don't have long to live." Loke confessed.
For Lucy the pieces suddenly fell into place as this information clicked. She could see that Loke was about to say something else, something stupid so she cut him off.
"Hey Loke."
"Yes?"
"You know….you look like a real perv, hugging a little girl like this."
"Wait….what?!" Loke was naturally startled by the accusation, and realised that Lucy indeed looked only six years old and potion or no, it didn't look good.
"It's ok, I can understand your feelings and I'll return them when I'm grown up." Lucy said in a deliberately loud voice causing Loke to sweat "So wait for me ok?!"
Despite her apparently infatuated words, Loke saw the mischievous glint in her eyes as she ran out.
"Wait!" Loke was about to give chase before a terrible misunderstand took place. However, he was stopped by an ominous aura from behind him. Reluctantly looking Loke saw the chef looked pissed, and was wielding a frying pan even larger than some of Erza's luggage. "Now Hold on, this is just a misunderstanding she's not really-"
*CLANG*
Loke's protestations of innocence were silenced as the chef smashed him on the head with the frying pan.
[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]
The next day Loke formerly known as Leo the Lion had put his affairs in order, he'd quit Fairy Tail and broken up with all the girls he'd dated, it was better for them to hate him rather than mourn him anyway especially after he'd caused Karen's death.
He had a feeling that Fairy Tail would be looking for him, but even if they found where he was it would be too tale, he'd have faded away by then. It was a shame to leave all the good friends he'd made behind, hopefully they'd get over him quickly.
"interesting so this is Karen Lilica's grave." A familiar voice said.
Loke whipped around to see Lucy in her adult form standing there glancing at the waterfall which served as backdrop to the ledge where Karen's grave was located.
"I shouldn't be surprised you found me." Loke sighed.
"People tend to keep track of the Golden Gate keys." Lucy said "It wasn't hard to tell that Karen Lilica was the last holder of the Lion Key. After that I got nosy and used Sha Nagba Imuru to see what kind of wizard she was. Admittedly she was decently skilled, but as far as her treatment of Celestial Spirits goes she was nothing but a mongrel. I saw everything, what she did to Aries, and how you tried to protect her by staying in this world to force Karen to break the contract. Anyone who treats Celestial Spirits in such horrible way has no right to call themselves a Celestial Wizard."
"Look I appreciate the sentiment but I've come to terms with it, I've been here for three years now."
"Staying in the human world saps Celestial Spirits life force eventually they fade away if they stay for too long, but three years is impressive frankly I didn't think one was possible." Lucy said impressed "You must have a strong will to hold on this long."
"Pretty amazing right? But I don't have the strength to keep it up, because I broke a fundamental law that applies to Wizard and Spirit I was banished form the Celestial World for eternity." Loke said looking back at Karen's grave. "Even if I was trying to protect Aries, I still caused my key holders death and I have to face the punishment for that."
Loke's scrunched up in pain and he fell to the ground, his body began flickering in an out of existence, every single part of his body was starting fade, the flickering was becoming quicker with each passing second.
"Before I go I wanna thank you." Loke said weakly "Seeing you with Aquarius, Taurus and the others restored my faith in Celestial Wizards."
"Hold on, this isn't over yet."
"Please tell everyone in Fairy Tail I said goodbye." Loke requested as he became weaker and weaker.
"Damn it, when I say hold on I mean hold on." Lucy grasped both of Loke's arms and began focusing, she could feel Loke's connection to it, despite being weak it was there, she began sending a flood of magic energy through the link at the Gate. "Now Open Gate of the Lion!"
"Lucy it's not gonna open for you, as far they're concerned I'm responsible for Karen's death they're not gonna let me go back."
"They will, because I won't leave them choice." Lucy cried as the golden magic energy swirled around them like a hurricane disturbing the water coming down the falls. "I don't need to force the Gate open, there a way to save you. I just need his attention."
With that Lucy send an enormous blast fo energy thrugh the connection where it impacted the Gate of the Lion.
In the next second, the entire world went quiet. Suddenly a shockwave rippled through the earth. Lucy smirked knowing she'd gotten what she wanted. The stars themselves started rotating around a single unmoving star in the centre of the sky.
Water from the falls which had frozen in mid-air swirled into a massive pillar before dissipating, when the water was gone, a massive armoured figure with a ethereal glow stood in in its place. The figure had light, oversized mustache, long enough to diagonally reach his upper torso almost extending past his shoulders, with massive and extremely scruffy ends; more facial hair is found in the form of some stubble located on his chin. His blank, pupil-less eyes were outlined by a deep shade, and he has a slight hint of wrinkles on his face.
"I-Impossible..." Loke muttered. "It's him... the Celestial Spirit King! W-What the heck is he doing here?!
"Hello, my old friend." The Spirit king spoke, his voice was deep. "As you well know, both wizards and spirits are bound by Celestial Law, and taking the life of a key holder is forbidden under any circumstance! Although not by your hand, you are still responsible for the death of your Keyholder, Leo the Lion! Therefore, you have been banished from the Celestial world for eternity!"
"I'm aware of that, which is why I got your attention." Lucy said summoning the Golden keys of Aquarius, Cancer, Sagittarius, Virgo and Taurus and levitating them just above her head. "According to Celestial Law, a wizard with a contract with two or more Golden Zodiac Keys may challenge the Spirit King for any boon as long as they wager the key and the contract with it, and as long as the conditions are met the Spirit King cannot refuse a challenge."
"Hold on Lucy just wait a moment-HEY!" Loke's objection as cut off as he enveloped in a golden sphere by the Spirit King.
"The sphere will give Leo the Lion a reprieve from vanishing, In accordance with Celestial Law I shall honour this challenge, so which key do you wager human girl?" The Celestial Spirit King asked.
"I wager the Key of the Waterbearer, Aquarius." Lucy declared confidently.
"Lucy no one has been able to defeat him in four hundred years." Loke yelled "Don't lose your contract with Aquarius for the likes of me!"
"The challenge is accepted; we shall play a game to decide whether you shall attain your boon or not." The Spirit King declared with a confident smile, he summoned a game board. "The game we shall play is called Battleships in your world."
He took out the boards, which had appropriately sized grids and ship pieces for both of them.
"Be prepared, the last to defeat me was a Celestial Wizard named Anna, four centuries ago." The Spirit King said confidently.
"You shouldn't underestimate me." Lucy smirked as both players prepared their boards while Loke sweatdropped at the sight as the game began.
[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]
The game was surpisingly tense for a board game. Then again Loke knew the King was serious when it game to playing games. Nearly five minutes had passed and Loke got the impression that the game was nearing the end.
"C6" The King made his move.
"Miss." Lucy said causing the king to grumble and adjust his grid to show a miss. "J7"
"…J7"the King paused upon seeing the spot. "A hit…..you have SUNK my battleship!"
"Yes!" Lucy cheered.
"You must play me again!" The King declared.
"What?!"
"Er….best two out of three?"
They played a different game, chess this time
"Checkmate!" Lucy declared.
And again the Spirit King lost.
"Best three out of five." The King really didn't want to go home a loser.
A game of Checkers, Shogi and Monopoly later the Spirit King had lost five games in a row.
"Best of seven?" Lucy guessed.
"Damn right!" The King nodded really determined to break this sudden losing streak.
A game of Trivial Pursuit and even Poker later and the Spirit King had officially lost seven games in a row.
"I concede; the boon is yours." The Spirit King sighed hanging his head.
"Ah ah, not so fast, the law says that any rematches mean the King must wager an additional boon, so you owe me seven." Lucy said wagging her finger.
"Damn it, I was hoping you didn't know about that." The King grumbled. "Can I assume your first boon is for Leo the Lion's banishment to be lifted?"
"You've got it." Lucy confirmed nodding her head.
"Very well, in accordance with Celestial Law I shall grant this boon." The King declared "Leo the Lion you are hereby granted return passage to Celestial World."
No sooner had the king said this then Loke's saw his key appear in his hand, and felt his gate allowing him passage once again.
The King promptly returned the Celestial World and time resumed again the waterfall flowing as it should.
"Well, my work here is done see ya." Lucy turned and began walking away.
"Wait, don't you want my key?" Loke asked.
"You can give it to me if you want, but ultimately my objective was to save you and I've done that." Lucy replied not looking back at him. "You're free to do as you please."
"In that case here." Loke ran up to her and placed his key in her hands. "I want you to have it, it's only right after you saved me and made me have faith in Celestial Wizards again."
"Alright, whatever." Lucy said accepting the key.
"Thank you for everything." Loke said as he returned to the Celestial Spirit world.
The situation now resolved Lucy examined the Key of the Lion as she made her way back home.